ATI RADEON VE

It may seem that video cards on NVIDIA chips have dominate every our review. I'm often accused of paying too little attention to ATI products.
The main reason of such inequality is that only ATI produces video cards using ATI chips (only with the release of the RADEON LE they acquired a partner
which helped ATI produce cheap modifications). It means that the series
of boards made on the RADEON is strictly defined:

The cards mainly differ in types and frequencies of the memory, the graphics
processor is the same but it also works at different frequencies. That's
why the difference can be only in performance. And in VIVO complete set.
Only the RADEON VE is too much unlike to its predecessors.

During the last half year a lot of video cards on the GPU NVIDIA GeForce2
and especially GeForce2 MX hit the streets. And if they had looked identically,
there would have been nothing to write about each card separately. But
the cards can differ much even with the same reference design.

The GeForce2 MX users know that the card can differ at least in 2D quality.
Besides, there appeared a plenty of cards with peculiar features such as
different memory types and sizes, hardware monitoring etc. Nearly all of
them appear on the shelves, that's why we decided to cover as much cards
on the popular chipset as possible.

One of the key features of the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX is TwinView support.
Certainly, the TwinView is supported not by all cards on the GeForce2 MX,
but only by those which have the second RAMDAC and a connector for the
second video-out or a TV-out. Such boards are too costy. There rises a
question - what can ATI oppose to these cards? For quite a long time we
had the comparison:

NVIDIA GeForce2 64 MBytes vs. RADEON 64 MBytes DDR

NVIDIA GeForce2 32 MBytes vs. RADEON 32 MBytes DDR

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX vs. RADEON 32 MBytes SDR

If in the first two positions the RADEON has lagged behind its competitor
almost everywhere, in the third one the situation is ambiguous. In 32-bit
color the RADEON 32 MBytes SDR easily outpaces the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX which
can't be even supported by its newest versions. Besides, considering that
today a lot of cheap RADEON LE cards appeared on the market which can be
perfectly overclocked, and the GeForce2 MX is in curious circumstances.
Besides, the RADEON VE has become a real danger for GF2.

Here you can check the RADEON VE's specs:

Graphics Controller - RADEON VE graphics processor

150-166 MHz

1 pixel pipeline

3 texture modules

Memory Configurations: 64 MBytes DDR, 32 MBytes DDR, 16 MBytes
DDR

64-bit memory exchange bus

183 (366) MHz

3D Acceleration Features

HYPER Z technology

PIXEL TAPESTRY architecture

VIDEO IMMERSION technology

Twin Cache Architecture

Single-Pass Multi-texturing (3 textures per clock cycle)

True Color Rendering

Triangle Setup Engine

Texture Cache

Bilinear/Trilinear Filtering

Texture Decompression support under DirectX (DXTC) and OpenGL

Specular Highlights

Perspectively Correct Texture Mapping

Mip-Mapping

Z-buffering and Double-buffering

Emboss, Dot Product 3 and Environment bump mapping

Spherical, Dual-Paraboloid and Cubic environment mapping

Full Screen Anti-Aliasing (FSAA)

HydraVision Multiple Monitor Management Software for a flexible
output of image onto two receivers (VGA-connector for CRT-monitors
and DVI-connector for digital monitors)

The DVI-to-VGA adapter allows to use a CRT-monitor as the second
one instead of the digital monitor, providing full value operation
with two monitors

TV-out (S-Video, but they supply an S-Video-to-RCA adapter)
can be used as the second receiver

Possibility of a interchanging of the first and the second
signal receivers

HydraVision Multidesk Software allows to organize up to 9 virtual
tables on one monitor

3D max resolution:

65K colors: 1920X1440

16.7M colors: 1920X1200

As I can judge the RADEON VE is received by cutting two times the rasterized
block, deleting the Hardware TCL block (i.e. the geomentrical coprocessor)
and adding the units which output the image on the second signal receiver
(the second RAMDAC, CRTC etc.) It looks like the GeForce2 MX coming from
the GeForce2 GTS :-) except for the fact that the Hardware TCL wasn't deleted
from the GeForce2 MX.

So, we have recived the Riva TNT2 Ultra in terms of the 3D performance,
but in another form. Look: the both have 150 MHz, in multitexturing mode
the Riva TNT2 Ultra gives 150 million pixels and 300 million texels per
second, as much as the RADEON VE if two texture blocks are activated (today
it's still impossible to enable 3 TMUs since there are no such games).
The Riva TNT2 Ultra runs at 183 MHz with the 128-bit bus. The RADEON VE
operates at 183 (366) MHz of the DDR-memory, but taking into consideration
the 64-bit bus we get the same. The unique technologies HyperZ and double
caching allow RADEON VE to have higher performance than that of
the 2 year Riva TNT2 Ultra.

Board

The board are based on the AGP 2x/4x interface, it has 32 MBytes DDR SDRAM memory
located in 4 chips on the right side of the PCB. The memory modules have
5.5 ns access time and are intended for 183 (366) MHz.

The chipset is covered with a heat sink, glued to it. The fan is absent since
the processor does not heat itself much.
Apart from the usual VGA-connecotor there is
a DVI-output. These both outputs together with the integrated RAMDACs serve
a base for the HydraVision technology which is similar to the NVIDIA TwinView
or Matrox DualHead, but which is, at the same time, unique. Here is a quotation
from the press release of November 9, 2000:

"Toronto, Ontario, Canada, November 9, 2000 - ATI Technologies Inc.
(TSE: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) the world's largest supplier of 3D graphics and
multimedia technology, today announced an exclusive strategic relationship
with Appian Graphics Corporation, the leader in extended desktop solutions,
to bring HydraVision™ software to the mass market. The agreement gives
ATI the rights to integrate the industry-leading HydraVision desktop management
software and brand into their product line starting with the RADEON™ VE
followed by other ATI products in the future.

HydraVision has long been the standard desktop manager for multiple
monitor products, and Appian Graphics has been the leader in offering the
best multiple monitor solutions," said David Orton, President of ATI. "Combining
Appian's desktop management expertise with our leading graphic accelerator
technology will create an unbeatable line of products.

So, this technology gives a possibility not only to display an image on two monitors but it also is handy in creation of virtual desktops. We will discuss
it in depth a bit later, but now we will return to our discussion of the
RADEON VE and its accesories.

The complete set includes the adapter (on the photo above) which allows to
connect not only the digital monitor but also a normal one to the second
connector.

It should be noted that RADEON VE is equipped with a TV-out with an S-
Video- connector (there is an S-Video-to-RCA adapter supplied). That's why you
can display an image on any two of these three receivers. Settings for image output can be found in driver settings:

Note an important detail: you can interchange the receivers, i.e. the
primary and the secondary receivers are not rigidly tied up to the corresponding
connectors. That's why if you unintentionally connected monitors the wrong
way, you can just interchange them in the drivers.

It is interesting to note that the HydraVision utility allows to use the
multimonitor support in almost all applications, even in the Adobe Photoshop:

After installation of the utility you will see an icon of "HydraVision
control" in the task bar. The program allows to organize up to 9 virtual
desktops! You can shift from one to another desktop with only one switch.

The desktops can be named however you like:

The card can be shipped either in OEM package or in Retail one. The
complete set contains two adapters: DVI-to-VGA, S-Video-to-RCA, and a CD
with drivers.

Overclocking

Unfortunately, there are no utilities which can correctly increase the
clock frequency of the card, that's why we did not overclock the card.

Installation and drivers

The test system for the ATI RADEON VE:

processor: Intel Pentium III 1000 MHz:

mainboard: Chaintech 6OJV (i815);

RAM: 256 MBytes PC133;

HDD: IBM DPTA 20 GBytes;

OS: Windows 98 SE;

monitors: ViewSonic P810 (21") and ViewSonic P817 (21").

The tests were carried out with VSync disabled, on the 7.078 drivers from
ATI.

For comparison we have taken the results of the following video cards:
ATI RADEON 32 MBytes SDR, Hercules Dynamite TNT2 Ultra (the frequency was decreased
down to 150/183 MHz which are standard for the Riva TNT2 Ultra), Leadtek
WinFast GeForce2 MX/DVI.

Test results

The 2D quality is traditionally high. There is nothing much to talk about; just
note that 2D quality does not depend only on the card manufacturer but may vary
from card to card.

Now let us look at the performance of the card in 3D. The following programs
were used:

id Software Quake3 v.1.17 is a game-test which demonstrates the card's
work in OpenGL with usage of a standard demo-benchmark demo002;

Rage Expendable (timedemo) is a game-test that shows board's work in Direct3D
in multiplexing mode.

Quake3 Arena

The test using the standard demo002 was carried out in two modes: Fast (shows
card's work in 16-bit color) and High Quality (shows card's work in 32-bit
color).

You can see that my guess-work on the results of the RADEON VE and the Riva
TNT2Ultra being close turned out to be true. Only in 32-bit color the RADEON VE
won the battle with RivaTNT2Ultra, but it fell far behind the other cards.

Expendable

Using this game we will evaluate the card's speed in Direct3D.

Here the situation is quite different: RADEON VE has a clear advantage over the
Riva TNT2 Ultra. The RADEON VE could even outperform their elder brothers
prominent in 3D. However, a relative ease of the scenes in the Expendable could
also contribute to this effect. But there is another version that this might be
the cause of the use of HyperZ. However, according to the Registry,
it's included both in the OpenGL and in the Direct3D modes, and in the first case it's possible that the HyperZ operates the wrong way but in the Direct3D it gives out all its advantages.

Now comes the summary on the ATI RADEON VE's performance:

The video card shows the performance just a bit better than the Riva TNT2
Ultra, and in 32 bit color it's much higher, though it still lags behind
the earlier released and more powerful ATI RADEON SDR and ATI RADEON LE,
as well as it falls behind the NVIDIA GeForce2 MX;

The ATI RADEON VE, as well as all RADEON based cards, differs in optimization
of operation in 32-bit color;

Conclusion

Despite low results in 3D, the RADEON VE showed a high level of price/performance/"function
saturation" ratio. Priced at $90-95, the card remains far behind the NVIDIA
GeForce2 MX - cards which have almost the same price, but the RADEON VE
shows an excellent quality in 2D, what is untypical for "noname"-cards
on the GeForce2 MX, plus it features the HydraVision technology which is
similar to the NVIDIA TwinView. And such cards are much more expensive
than $100.

We can suggest that you buy the ATI RADEON VE if you are working mainly in
business sector or in hardcore 2D-applications. It is a good choice for those
who need to use two monitors at the same time. Besides, remember that as always
ATI provides high quality of playback of DVD and MPEG4 movies.

For proper comparison of video cards of this and
other classes refer to our 3Digest.

Highs:

Quite satisfactory performance in 3D graphics;

Very good implementation of the product;

HydraVision support (TwinView's analog), but with a wider range of possibilities;

TV-out, supported by the HydraVision;

Relatively low price;

Lows:

Traditional delay in shipment what can bring to nought the
price advantage of the RADEON VE;

Too high competition on the business system market, considering
presence not only of NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, but also of Matrox G450.